🍳 BREAKFAST
Hoppers (Appa)
Bowl-shaped fermented rice-and-coconut pancakes, lacy at the edges and soft in the middle.
Sri Lankan · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min · plus 12 h 30 min hands-off time
~478 cal · 6g protein · 65g carbs · 22g fat · 5g fiber · 8g sugars · 19g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Hoppers (appa) are Sri Lanka's iconic bowl-shaped pancakes, a batter of rice flour and swirled in a small wok so it sets lacy and crisp at the edges and soft and spongy in the center. An egg cracked into the middle makes the beloved 'egg hopper.'
The overnight fermentation gives hoppers their characteristic subtle sourness and airy texture, and the bowl shape is designed to cradle a runny egg or accompaniments. They are a masterpiece of Sri Lankan rice-and-coconut cookery.
Eaten for breakfast or dinner with fiery sambols, dhal, and curry across Sri Lanka, hoppers are endlessly versatile.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 2 cups rice flour
- 1.5 cups coconut water (or warm water)
- 1.5 cups
- a small pinch dried yeast, about 1/4 of 1/8 tsp
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- 1Mix the rice flour and the pinch of yeast, add the coconut water, and work it with your hand for a full 5 minutes until the lumps go and the batter is smooth and thick.✎ Chef’s noteDo not rush the mixing. Hydrating the rice flour properly is what lets the batter hold the gas from the ferment, which is what makes the lacy edge.
- 2Cover loosely and leave it to ferment 12 to 16 hours, until bubbly and roughly doubled.✎ Chef’s noteA tiny pinch of yeast over a long, slow ferment is what gives a hopper its faint sourness. A big spoonful will get you bubbles in two hours but a flat, bready taste. In Sri Lanka the traditional starter is not yeast at all but toddy, the fermented sap of the coconut palm.
- 3Stir in the coconut milk, the sugar, the salt, and a splash of water to a batter the consistency of pouring cream, then leave it another 30 minutes to build the gas back up.
- 4Pour a small ladle into a hot oiled bowl-shaped (appa) pan and immediately swirl so the batter climbs the sides thinly, leaving a small pool in the middle.
- 5Cover and cook 2 to 4 minutes, until the edges are crisp, lacy and golden and the soft centre is set.✎ Chef’s noteFor an egg hopper, the version most people order, crack an egg into the pool in the centre the moment you finish swirling, then cover and steam it until the white is just set.
- 6Serve hot off the pan with pol sambol, lunu miris, seeni sambol and curry.
Southern Province tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Southern Province. Sri Lanka's Southern Province cooks fiery coconut-rich curries, hoppers, and fresh seafood along a palm-lined coast. Cinnamon, once traded from these very shores, perfumes its table.
🗺️
Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan cooking is fiercely aromatic, built on roasted curry powders, coconut, and pandan, with rice and curry at its heart. Hoppers, sambols, and fiery fish curries reflect an island spice trade centuries in the making.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Sri Lanka
Parippu & Pol SambolCreamy coconut-milk red lentils with a fiery fresh coconut-chili relish, the twin pillars of a Lankan rice table.
Fish Ambul Thiyal (Sour Fish Curry)Sri Lanka’s dry sour fish curry: firm fish coated in a jet-black paste of goraka and black pepper and cooked down until every piece wears a tangy, peppery crust.
Kottu RotiChopped flatbread stir-fried with curry, vegetables, and egg on a clanging griddle, Colombo’s midnight anthem.
Browse all Sri Lanka recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best fresh and hot. Keep batter covered in the fridge for up to a day, and rewarm cooked ones in a dry pan.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Hoppers (Appa)?
Bowl-shaped fermented rice-and-coconut pancakes, lacy at the edges and soft in the middle.
Where does Hoppers (Appa) come from?
Hoppers (Appa) is a Sri Lankan dish from Southern Province, Sri Lanka.
Can Hoppers (Appa) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Hoppers (Appa) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Hoppers (Appa) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Hoppers (Appa) take to make?
About 13 h 15 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 25 minutes cooking, plus 12 h 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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